Master of Ten Thousand Foxes

Exhale...

A fierce wind swept into the Bronze Hall, carrying fine grains of sand along.

At the hall’s entrance, Small and Big Eyes and Butterfly Knot, two foxes, were gathered around a water basin, vigorously washing those stinky stone slabs.

Inside the deepest part of the hall, Bai Mo put down the copper plate he’d just finished reading, pondered for a moment, picked up a pen to write down a few lines, then took a sip of the hot tea, when suddenly he heard the sound of "rumble rumble."

Looking up, he saw a small tricycle drive straight into the Bronze Hall.

"Yin yin yin!"

The driver of the tricycle was Black Nose, a fox disciple and the head chef of Fox Mountain’s cafeteria, with a white chef hat atop his head!

"Ow ow ow!"

It excitedly jumped off the tricycle, took a plate of roasted sweet potatoes from the tricycle’s carriage with a stove, and a big jug of osmanthus soy milk, setting them on the master’s table!

Bai Mo looked at the honey-dripping roasted sweet potatoes, touched the warmly heated osmanthus soy milk, and reached out to pull Black Nose into his arms.

"Not bad!

"Has this little food cart been modified again?"

The last time he saw this small cart, it didn’t have heating functions or insulation.

Black Nose enthusiastically gestured with fox language, explaining the new food cart to his master!

Fox Mountain’s small food carts now have both hot and cold varieties, like the one it drove, specifically for delivering hot meals and beverages to the herb fields, digging sites, providing extra meals for fellow disciples!

Another type is the cold chain transport, dedicated to delivering alcohol, beverages, ice cream, also making rounds to the front lines twice a day to satisfy and quench the disciples!

After introducing, it nuzzled its head against the master’s chest to be cuddled for a while, before jumping out of the master’s arms, continuing to deliver meals to other disciples.

Bai Mo lowered his head again, picked up the copper plate, and continued reading the documents.

"The study of implanting plant roots into Immortal Beast bodies... What? Using plant roots to harm Immortal Beasts?"

Bai Mo furrowed his brows and continued reading.

Yet after a few lines, he suddenly found it wasn’t so!

[...By planting Biling Grass into the spine pores of the Seven-Hole Deer, under sunlight, Biling Grass conducts photosynthesis, releasing oxygen, assisting the Seven-Hole Deer in breathing...]

Such an assertion?

Bai Mo continued reading, encountering a set of rigorous theoretical discourse, and a detailed operational method.

"This... isn’t harming Immortal Beasts, quite the contrary, it actually is like giving Immortal Beasts plug-in assistive devices?"

Further reading revealed to Bai Mo that his understanding of the Immortal Beast Path was quite limited.

Just this tip of the iceberg in the document opened his eyes wide.

"Perform surgeries on Immortal Beasts, enlarge their nasal passages to increase air intake, enhancing their athletic abilities?

"Alter the spleen structure and blood formula of Immortal Beasts to make their blood lighter, allowing it to pump through the body faster?

"Carve runes on Immortal Beast bones, using Immortal Artifact runes to increase bone strength?"

Bai Mo furrowed his brows.

Suddenly realizing why Immortal Beast Masters excel at surgery... It turns out, it’s because they often have to operate on their own Immortal Beasts.

"The intensity of modification, it’s quite substantial!"

[...Numerous methods of Immortal Beast modification, almost every path can participate...]

[...Widespread modification of Immortal Beasts, virtually all Immortal Beasts, are continuously being modified...]

"From the looks of it, original Immortal Beasts are quite rare; modified ones are mainstream?"

Bai Mo furrowed his brows, pondering... Indeed, around him, there were no decent Immortal Beast Masters, it’s no surprise he hadn’t seen Immortal Beast modifications before.

He sighed while continuing to read.

...

Daytime in dreams corresponds to nighttime in reality.

On the Niu Bi Mountain of the West Ridge Mountain Range, Cyan Dragon Pan Temple had become a construction site... more precisely, a renovation site.

That’s right!

Miyamoto Rokuzo considered his ancestral court too shabby, deciding to fund it himself; he bought building materials from West State, hired a construction team, and began refurbishing the Cyan Dragon Pan Temple!

At this time, the construction workers had clocked out.

A white incandescent bulb hanging at the temple’s entrance swayed in the wind, radiating light, illuminating the mountainous pile of wood, cement, bricks, and tiles.

Further away in the open space, music sounded!

There was melodious shakuhachi, crisp taiko, soothing three-string...

And the "tap tap tap" sound of feet marking the beat.

Among the music, over a hundred people formed ten circles inside and out, dancing gracefully around the bonfire!

"Everybody dance!

"This dance, dedicated to the Great God Xiang Liu, dedicated to the Eight-headed Giant Serpent!

"As long as your heart is sincere, the spirits can hear your voices!"

Miyamoto Rokuzo stood before the bonfire, waving a paper fan in his hands, directing the rhythm for his followers.

Yet the dance appeared very bizarre!

Whether Ninjas, Witches, Rangers, or Yin Yang Masters, all changed step techniques, marking the beat with their footfall, swaying their waists side to side, arms soft and undulating like snakes, heads and necks flexibly shaking, resembling serpents probing around.

"...Imagine yourselves on ancient offering platforms, under the shadow as massive as a mountain of Great God Xiang Liu, in the breath as swift as wind of Great God Xiang Liu, dancing this dance, expressing respect to it, praying for harvest..."

On the live streaming devices not far away, countless bullet comments from Sakura Region were furiously scrolling!

Contents included incomprehensible sakura letters amid devout hand-joining emojis.

The density and quantity of these comments were greater than days before!

"...This is the dance of Xiang Liu, the dance of the Eight-headed Giant Serpent, it’s the dance of ancestors..."

...

"This is... damn ugly dance."

Upon Fox Mountain, Bai Mo lounged on a sofa behind the Bronze Table, watching the floating scene above, utterly speechless.